Friday, March 4, 2011

Sorry for my lengthy post-valentines day hiatus. The third trimester has made me a little slow in the kitchen and I've had my hands full with family. Like my mother, who was in town last week and thinks a day at the spa is a better use of my time than baking (hey, I'm not going to argue). Then we had Mr. Humble's laptop crashing and needing to be resurrected after the latest Windows 7 service pack, something that makes the Mac user in me smirk with smug hipster superiority.

Mr. Humble (and his laptop) were necessary for today's post, since we're using one of his bread recipes. A recipe I've been begging... scratch that, demanding he make in recent weeks. You see, I've had some pretty crazy pregnant woman cravings for all things creamy. Cheesecakes, eclairs, cream puffs, donuts, and cinnamon rolls topped with pillows of creamy goodness. Knowing that Mr. Humble's soft, tender enriched white dough makes a beautiful cinnamon roll, I lobbied hard.

Of course, once I actually got my wish for a pan of delicious freshly made cinnamon rolls, I spent more time eating them than photographing them. Thus all I have to accompany this post is a bunch of photos of minimally-staged cinnamon rolls that are in the process of being eaten.

Photographing food while pregnant is hard!

So let's get down to the how-to.

You will find that this recipe is far simpler than the sourdough cinnamon rolls found on NSHP. This recipe also produces a very soft, tender roll without the need for a sourdough starter or lengthy cold ferments. The rolls can be turned out and baked in a few hours, given optimal rising conditions in your kitchen.

Alright, I'm going to let my resident dough-maker and crazy pregnant woman care-taker commandeer the laptop and give you the run down for this dough. Before I do so though, I will mention that this is a very common tried and tested dough recipe in the Humble household, one we use whenever we require a delicious and quick enriched dough. I use it for Mother Humble's caramel pecan sticky rolls and I also bake it into loaves for a soft and tender bread. Loaves that make fantastic french toast when sliced.

As you might have noticed, everything is by weight. I don't know how much it is by volume, and I'm a hardliner when it comes to baking by weight. I wouldn't even give a coworker one of my bread recipes until he bought a kitchen scale. So, if you do not have a kitchen scale, you will need one for this recipe.

I have active dry yeast on hand, but you can use other types as well. Simply use the following conversion factors: 1g Instant = 1.25g Active Dry = 2.5g Fresh.

When I make this dough, I weigh out the milk, butter, and eggs and set them aside to warm up to room temperature. I cut the butter into small cubes before weighing to make it easier to soften and handle when mixing everything together.

Weigh out your dry ingredients, and whisk them thoroughly to combine.

After everything is room temperature and ready, it is time to mix. I only mix bread by hand. In fact, I don't really know how to do it properly in a stand mixer. For me, mixing the dough by hand is an important part of making bread. You also learn a lot about what's going on with the ingredients as they slowly become dough. So, I will suggest making this dough by hand (and because I have no idea how to tell you to get the same results with a mixer).

Take your dry ingredients bowl and make a small hole in the middle of your flour mixture, and begin adding your milk, eggs, and butter. I mix with a wooden spoon or silicone scraper. To begin, slowly mix in circles around your liquids and incorporate the flour in the middle, expanding to the edges. After this, I begin folding the ingredients from the edge to the center, pressing down in the middle. Scrape down the side to incorporate anything that is stuck, fold to the middle, press, then turn the bowl and repeat. Don't forget about the bottom; make sure you don't have a layer of flour accumulating under your dough.

When the ingredients are more or less fully combined, you will have a very sticky mass of almost-dough. At this point it will be time to continue mixing outside of the bowl. Prepare a clean, dry section of counter-top and scrape your not-quite-dough out of the bowl and onto the surface. It is very sticky and it will be difficult to work with at first, but do not put flour anywhere on the dough or on your counter top or on your hands. Just prepared to make a mess until the dough comes together...and have a scraper handy.

If you want, you can dip your fingers into cold water before handling the dough. This will buy you approximately 4 seconds of clean fingers, and generally isn't worth the bother. As much as possible, use only your fingers to handle the dough. It will minimize the amount of dough that ends up sticking to you until the dough comes together properly.

For the mixing at this stage, I strongly suggest using a French fold variant. It is a very good method for hand mixing wet doughs, and there are even a few videos online demonstrating it. I think there is a link on this blog to one, even.

(Ms. Humble: There is one rather vigorous display of sticky dough handling contained within the Doughnut Post. However some slightly less aerobic French folding videos can also be found out on the web.)

Essentially, with this method, you pick up the very sticky mass with your fingers, swing the bottom up and slap it to the counter, then fold the part in your hands over the top. Then you pick it up, turn, and repeat. It is not easy at first, and it is messy on your fingers, but it is very effective. After a few minutes of this, your dough will stick to you and the counter a lot less and mainly to itself. When the dough doesn't stick to you so much any more, you can then knead the dough in pretty much any way that is comfortable to you. All that matters is that you continue mixing until you have reasonable gluten formation.

With this dough, fancy gluten windows and whatnot are completely unnecessary. You should not have any dry bits, and it should be a more-or-less cohesive blob of dough. It will be a little soft, but still fairly stiff because the gluten is not well formed.

When done, form the dough into a ball and put into a lightly-oiled bowl. The bowl should have enough room for the dough to double in size. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to rise. The time it takes to double in size will depend on the temperature of your room. If it is warm, it will rise faster, with less flavor from the yeast. If it is colder, it will rise more slowly, have a slightly different flavor, and the dough will be softer.

Unless it is really cold or your yeast is dead, the dough will eventually double, or nearly double, in size. At this point it is time to make your rolls.
This is where Mr. Humble passes off the bowl of dough to me and I get down to the serious business of assembling the rolls.

Now you have your soft mass of dough ready for rolling and cinnamon-ing. You should roll out the dough into a rectangle. How thick or thin will depend on how you like your cinnamon rolls. A thinner larger sheet will produce rolls with thin spirals, a thicker sheet of dough will produce rolls with thick spirals. Generally I roll this dough a bit larger than a standard half sheet pan, using a bit of flour to prevent sticking.

Combine the brown sugar, sugar and cinnamon in a bowl until evenly mixed and lump free. Brush your sheet of dough with the melted butter and then sprinkle with a generous coating of the sugar mixture. Use it all.

Then working with the long edge of the dough sheet, roll the sheet onto itself to form a spiraled log of dough. Use a piece of dental floss or thread to cut the dough into evenly sized disks (how thick is the baker's preference. I like to cut mine just over one inch thick. If you want really massive rolls, be prepared to bake them in a smaller pan).

Arrange the rolls in a lightly buttered 9" x 13" baking dish, leaving space between them so they can expand and rise (more space than shown above. Not sure why I photographed them squashed like that...). Cover lightly with plastic wrap and preheat your oven to 350°F. (You can now freeze the rolls for later, allowing them to defrost and rise before baking.) Allow the rolls to rise in a warm spot until doubled and then you're ready to bake.

Ready to go into the oven.

Place the rolls into your oven and bake until golden brown and the dough reaches an internal temperature of 190°F. This will take roughly half an hour.

Then pull out your rolls and prepare to slather with my favorite cream cheese frosting.

Light, creamy and not too sweet, this is one of my favorite cream cheese frostings. Lightened with whip cream, it is a wonderful light but stable frosting. Of course we're talking light in the context of texture, not calories. The frosting is fantastic on carrot, red velvet cake or my pumpkin spice cake, cupcakes, cinnamon rolls and even a dip for dunking fruit.

This recipe probably makes more than enough for the rolls above, but I admit to dolloping an obscene amount onto my oven fresh buns. That's just how Ms. Humble rolls.

Beat the cheese, sugar and vanilla until smooth and fluffy. In a separate bowl, beat the heavy cream to nearly stiff peaks, then add the whipped cream into the cheese mixture and quickly and briefly beat to combine. Do not over beat.

71 comments:

Looks yum :)Funny how the process of making the dough varies from country to country. In Finland we take prode in our buns & rolls, but we always begin the dough by heating the milk, then whisking in the egg & sugar & cardamom (& fresh yeast), then gradually adding the flour.

And we don't measure ingredients by weight, but by gut instinct ;) I really should have my scale in handy the next time I bake to see if the amounts are even nearly the same as in your recipe.

So when measuring out the eggs in grams I am assuming that is out of the shell. If I measure out say two eggs and still below the 61 grams and then the next egg puts it above 61 grams which part do I take out the yolk or the whites to get it down to 61 grams. Sorry that is the scientist in me, Mr. Humble said 61 grams so not a gram less or more.

I made the rolls for Sunday breakfast and we enjoyed them! I halved the frosting recipe and it was still a lot for a 9x13 pan of rolls. It is rich, fluffy stuff! Some folks thought the rolls were delicious sans topping, so I served them plain and everyone took as much or little cream cheese frosting as they desired.

Mr. Humble doesn't and says you don't necessarily need to. However, this is where he and I have a little kitchen disagreement. When I make this dough, I warm the milk a little and stir in the yeast. Hence, you can do it either way.

I admit to being completely baffled when it comes to turning gluten recipes into gluten free versions. I need to pick up the Flying Apron Bakery's cookbook someday, so I can study up on their recipes, get a better understanding of baking without wheat flour.

Oooh, I think I will be making these this weekend! I have recently started reading through your archives obsessively, so they can go on the (ever-lengthening) list of things I simply must make!The other one I really want to do is the caramel-covered marshmallows. I made a first attempt at marshmallows last night, and they came out beautifully, but I had a few questions about the science of it all - I have read that you shouldn't let gelatin boil, as it won't set properly. But surely adding it to boiling syrup would have that effect? Also, I discovered when my egg whites were whipping and my syrup was nearly boiling that the total weight of the pack of (leaf) gelatine I had bought was only 12g (not the 20g!). Figuring at worst it would mean my husband having to eat the stuff with a spoon, I decided to just go ahead - and they set perfectly. A little softer than most shop-bought marshmallows, but delightfully so, and they hold their shape fine. Is the recipe really that flexible? Or did I get lucky and use particularly strong gelatine? Finally, as I'm living in Paris, I don't have access to corn syrup. I was going to make invert syrup to use, but got home so late from work that I couldn't face doing both, and I REALLY wanted marshmallows. So I just put a couple of drops of lemon juice in with the sugar at the beginning, figuring that this would create some invert syrup in the mix itself once it got to 230 degrees, and that there would be no need to make the invert syrup separately, then take some of that and make a new syrup, heating it with the sugar and water, etc. Since you go through the 230 degree point with the marshmallow syrup, and even if you made the invert syrup separately you would be heating it past that point in the mix, I couldn't see logically how it would be any different (unless it's in cooling that the syrup becomes inverted?). Anyhow, it worked fine, no crystallisation problems at all. So what do you think? Was I just lucky or does my method make sense?Sorry, this has become an epic comment - I'm just really interested in your thoughts!

Let's start with the gelatin. Now generally, I don't work with leaf unless the recipe I'm using specifically calls for it, not because it isn't good (it's great stuff and I'll explain below) but just because it is difficult to obtain in the U.S. I have to order leaf from a baking supplier whereas powdered gelatin, that is available at my corner store and what I generally use for everyday baking and candy making.

Now leaf gelatin is a little different than the ordinary powdered stuff as it comes in different grades or strengths. (Which is why I think it is pretty neat.) Of course that means that sheet gelatin and powdered gelatin won't always be equivalent by weight.

So yes, the recipe could be a bit flexible or perhaps the strength of the gelatin sheet you are using compensated for the difference in weight.

As for boiling, given the amount of ingredients and the water absorbed by the gelatin, I doubt the syrup provides enough heat effectively 'boil' the mixture. The temperature drops so rapidly when the two are combined.

You were correct about the invert syrup, you did not need to cook the mixture twice. The acid and a little time on the stove is all that is needed to invert the sucrose for the recipe.

I do however recommend making a large batch of syrup and storing it for candy making. This is simply because a lot of candy recipes are more ridged than marshmallows (pun not intended) and it can be difficult to estimate the correct amounts of sugar/water/acid needed to equal a certain weight or volume of invert syrup, given the evaporation that occurs during the cooking process.

Thank you so much, that absolutely does answer my questions and I really appreciate your taking the time! It's often confusing trying to convert recipes from, say, American measurements and then find the equivalent available-in-France ingredients (one example - the baking powder here is WAY stronger than the stuff you get in Ireland, where I'm from. Found that out the hard way...) but I am learning so much from your blog, and really appreciate your advice - having some grasp of the science/underlying logic is awesome! Thanks again.

Sorry if this has been asked already as I didn't have time to read all the above questions- but I recently found out I am gluten intolerant and I now have pre-packaged GF flour mix w/ xanthan gum added that I have't had much success with converting to my old (normal flour) recipes. Any advice about using it for this recipe (the correct amount I would need)? Thank you!

I'm a fellow scientist in the kitchen, and I made this recipe last night to a whopping round of applause from my housemates. Comments included "don't change ANYTHING" and "I will never even look at the cinnabun store again" I am personally resolving never, ever to eat any frosting but this particular cream cheese version again (why settle for less than the best?!), and friends are tearing down the door for leftovers... of which there are none. Thanks again for the amazing blog!

The frosting is pretty terrific, I agree. There are only a few forms of cream cheese frosting I enjoy and this is one by far my favorite.

Starlingskyy21,

Unfortunately, converting wheat flour based recipes to GF is quite complicated. Particularly when you're dealing with a recipe that relies on gluten formation to achieve the average, expected results. How to modify recipes is beyond my expertise and I suspect that the best way to find recipes that work with a gluten free flour or substitute, is to find recipes that specifically call for them.

I just made the rolls and they came out amazingly well! The cream cheese frosting is incredible, I can't wait to frost cakes with it. :) I like how it's cream cheese-y without leaving a sour taste in your mouth.

you know, my questions are completely unrelated to this delicious looking cinnamon rolls, but for the best answers, i've learnt to ask the best teachers.

1) do you ice your cakes after placing them on the cake stand? I dont understand how your cakes can look so beautiful and pristine on their pedestals! I ice my cakes while they sit in their formspring pans to minimize movement, and while transferring them to a more decorative plate.. fingerprints galore!

2) (similar to above) with cheesecakes, do you serve them on their formspring bases? I hate cutting them and only to find the severest scratch marks on my pans :C but i'm always so dreadfully worried their beautiful tops will crack as i move them out of the pan!

I made these on my day off yesterday. AMAZING. I no longer feel the need to buy a cinnamon roll from Cinnabon (my previous experience with cinnamon rolls with cream cheese goodness on top) when I visit the US later this year.

Depends on the cake. Some iced cakes are sturdier than others and I can move them easily to the stands. Sometimes I use a cardboard cake round, other times I sit the cakes on a drop in base for a tart or cake pan for more stability and easier movement. If you look closely you can often see them in my photos when I use them.

Sometimes I frost a cake on the stand I use to serve, using slips of waxed or parchment paper, tucked under the bottom of the cake, to protect the stand when I'm icing. Then when I am finished frosting I gently remove the strips of paper and voila! Clean stand.

Usually.

As for cheesecakes. Mine are pretty sturdy, though I don't even consider removing them from their pans until they've chilled overnight. I sometimes do photograph and serve them on the form-springs (yes they get scratches from this). My doing that is purely out of laziness though. When I have my act together, I usually pull out a drop in tart bottom and use that as a giant cheesecake spatula to help move them to their display base.

Adding my voice to those who made these and were blown away. While I was slapping and folding, slapping and folding, I was mutinously thinking the recipe was far too hard and I wouldn't bother with it again.

And then, oh dear lord, I tasted the finished product. And promised myself I'd make these ALWAYS. I threatened to get a little tearful after I ate the last one for breakfast (I'm due in five weeks, so crying over pastry is allowed).

For folks wanting a gluten free version theres a selection of recipes to find on google of you search for gluten free cinnamon rolls. I've not tried any personally, but its aomething I keep an eye on for a couple gluten free friends.

I am very grateful for the instructions for the sweet dough, I have attempted this type of recipe in the past and the bread was always too dry. I took the step not to add any flour after the original ingredients were incorporated in complete faith and ended up with the final product I had been searching for. A thousand times thank you!!

Also, my husband loaned me his digital scale to get exact measurements, I've never had so much fun measuring before.

I made these today, thank you for giving such clear and easy-to-follow instructions. I enjoyed learning the French Fold technique, and will certainly be using it again, the result blew all previous attempts out of the water. My fore-arms are sore, though! I'm trying out the doughnuts next.

These are such delightful cinnamon rolls. I tried these twice - the first time I tried foisting the kneading and rising on my bread machine, with not so great results, and ended up last minute doing a lot of folding and finally cheating with a bit more flour added to the dough (bad!). This past time, though, I decided to try it again, being disciplined about no extra flour (I did use my kitchenaid - took almost 20 minutes with a few breaks so the motor didn't overheat). Glorious, such a wonderfully tender roll, and now I FINALLY get this whole not adding flour/oil/whatever - it WILL eventually stop being sticky. Just a little more patience was needed!

However for the sake of your poor and likely expensive mixer, I'm going to point out that 20 minutes in a stand mixer is just too long to kneed the dough--or just about any dough for that matter. Had this been a classic bagel dough, your mixer would have been producing more smoke than my first car.

Machine mixing that long is not only hard on your mixer, it is hard on your bread. That extended kneading will push the gluten development much further than needed and the heat transfer in the mixer will warm the dough, further breaking down the gluten.

Kneading by machine should take a fraction of the time required by hand, and it is worth noting that this dough doesn't even require 20 minutes of work by hand.

I know the french folding technique is a little daunting for those of us used to the push button ease of our mixers. However, it really does produce superior results.

For those of us who have arthritis or other issues that makes Mr. Humble's slapping and folding process impractical (or impossible), one can start the dough in the mixer (briefly) to get some of the initial gluten development going and reduce the amount of hand folding needed.

Touch your dough, everyone. (I'm going to have t-shirts made up with that slogan) Your hands are the best measuring devices for judging the hydration, the texture and quality of your dough. Feel it up, the dough will speak to you in ways you'll never be able to appreciate if it is sitting in the bowl of a machine. It will teach you so much.

Do you have an exceptionally wonderful recipe for Southern biscuits? You know, the ones that are incredibly tender inside and a little crispy on the outside, that are perfect when warm with butter and or jam slathered on? Because you have the chemistry thing down I thought you might know the perfect biscuit secret.

As a yank, I'm absolutely terrified of tackling biscuits. Simply because everyone and their friend's Grandma would "make better biscuits" than mine and I would hear all about it.

I'm also terrified because if I were to attempt to master biscuits I would never fit into my pants ever again. Really.

A large part of it is technique. Much like scones, puff pastry or pie crust. Simple ingredients done just right to yield exceptional results.

What I need is an awesome southern Granny that would be willing to teach me. Unfortunately my distant southern relations have only shared lessons in corn bread making and I lost the recipe (still kicking self).

I am new to your blog having followed a photo link for the cream cheese frosting and finding this absolutely insanely fantastic looking recipe for the cinnamon rolls as a bonus. Just yesterday I found a recipe for cinnamon rolls that take a day to make but had a photo of demonstration/instruction for the folding of the dough. I really want to make fresh rolls, citing the slightly bitter taste of the rolls & frosting of store bought in a refrigerated can (don't scream and run!) that you just pull apart and put on the baking stone to make. I already have the cream cheese and butter on the counter at room temp waiting for the process to begin and thankfully have a scale (wish it was digital but will hope for the best). I mentioned stone - I only bake with Pampered Chef stoneware - is there anything about the stoneware that would make a difference? They probably take a little longer to heat up than a metal pan but baked goods turn out so much better on stones or even pyrex or ceramic dishes than metal bakeware!

Anyway, I browsed through a few of your other recipes and had to stop out of severe mouth watering and hunger pangs! I also have read each comment on this post and am 1) encouraged at the turn-out of the recipe for those who tackled it and 2) wanting to run out to the store to purchase bread flour and whole milk (I only use 1% now) and finally 3) weighing the results of the added pounds I know these will add on my body since I cannot exercise as much as I would need to offset the amount of these that I KNOW I would consume! I am definitely going to make these ASAP! And I too cannot make biscuits (or rolls) but desperately want a good recipe that is prayerfully foolproof

Blessings and hugs, groans and moans to you Humbles for your awesome blog AND that you care enough to take the time to answer those of us who have to ask silly questions!

Yes, you can bake them in stoneware (you may note that the pan I am using in this post was stoneware). Pan materials of various types can be used for this recipe. Of course they will heat differently and that will produce variations in crust formation but with rolls such as these, it isn't something crucial you need to mind. Just ensure that the rolls hit 190°F and you're good to go.

For everyone else who reads these comments:

I will note that I tested the dough recipe in my stand mixer to see how the final results differed from the hand folded method. The handmade dough was superior giving me a finer, softer crumb. The machine mixed dough was still quite good, but it didn't have quite the soft fluffy texture I've come to expect from Mr. Humble's enriched dough.

Just tried this recipe and I have to thank you, Ms. Humble, for the most fantastic rolls - lovely! Made a few slight changes though.. Used skim milk for the dough and it turned out perfect (all done by hand, french fold, etc. My biceps are not exactly happy with that, though..). For the frosting, I used light cream cheese and half-half (instead of heavy cream). The result was not disappoiting at all (of course it was not airy like yours, because whipping half-half is impossible, but still delicious and velvety). I'm gonna say this is almost a "guilt-free" version of your recipe - one I'll keep (and bake) for many years to come.. :)

Ms. Humble- I made your silky cream cheese frosting for a chocolate red velvet cakelet I was making for my sister's birthday breakfast. I liked the idea of a "lighter" version of the traditional cream cheese frosting (much as I love the original). I handed the beater to my sis after I finished and heard her say, "Well...its Oh Kaay..." I turned around to see her face plastered with the stuff and a frosting stare. Success. Thank you for the recipe :)

Sorry if you've already answered it, but I want to use this frosting recipe for a chocolate cake...is there a way to make it chocolate flavored/colored? What would I add? Cocoa, almond bark, real chocolate?!

Biscuit recipe!I live in Mobile, Alabama, United States, and my grandmother taught me to make biscuits. If you have one, or can borrow one, use a black iron skillet. 4-5 cups of self-rising flour2 tablespoons of Crisco (vegetable oil shortening)Just Enough milk to mix ingredients and make them wetPreheat oven to 450 degrees faranheitPour 1/4 cup of vegetable oil in the bottom of your pan. This is what makes them crispy Now it is time to roll biscuits.Take flour and coat hands with it to prevent sticking.Pinch off 3-4 tablespoons worth of dough. GENTLY roll in the palms of your hands and make a biscuit shape. Drop in pan. Make sure the edges of all biscuits touch eachother.Continue to do this with all dough.Bake for about 15-20 minutes.

I use it on cakes and cupcakes all the time. It is a great combination of flavor and workability. The cream cheese frosting is thick and stable enough to pipe and decorate. I would even argue that it is better than most cream cheese based frostings when it comes to decorating.

However, like other dairy-based frostings, it will get soft when slathered onto a HOT hot cinnamon roll but apart from that, it has a light thick consistency.